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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905924">yah!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightkun/pseuds/starlightkun'>starlightkun</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Idols, but i do quite like this one tbh, girl group leader reader, i dont rlly like writing idolverse stuff, idolverse, just a series of meet-cutes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:40:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,523</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905924</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightkun/pseuds/starlightkun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>in which you keep meeting taeyong in less-than-ideal circumstances</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lee Taeyong/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>56</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>yah!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time you met Lee Taeyong was far from ideal. It was in a small corner backstage of a music show, producers and managers running around, and your own respective groups having to hold back two specific members to keep blood from being shed.</p><p>Being the leader of a girl group from a rather small company had its ups and downs. The ups often leading to the downs, like the current situation.</p><p>You and your girls were extremely proud to have become so successful after coming from a very unknown company. Leading up to your debut in your darkened dorms where the seven of you shared one room and all you could make for yourselves was cup ramen, you would often rant about and curse ‘the Big Three’ and any idols and groups who came from them, who—in your eyes—had guaranteed success.</p><p>As Starry Eyed slowly climbed the ladder to success, the fire you had from before didn’t necessarily die, but you didn’t have as much bitterness and resentment towards the other groups or idols. They all had to train and work as hard as you did, you came to realize.</p><p>Not all of your members were as toned down as you, however.</p><p>It had all started when the first of the teaser images for your newest comeback were released on the same day as NCT 127’s teaser images. After further investigation, you found out that your comebacks were scheduled for the exact same day. This was an immediate mood-killer for your girls, and as the leader you vigorously reassured them that Starry Eyed would still kill it and it didn’t matter if NCT or any other Big Three company’s group was having a comeback at the same time. And maybe that was your first mistake.</p><p>You had been promoting for over two weeks now, and at every music show where you and NCT 127 performed on the same episode, they would always win, and Starry Eyed always came in as a close second. In order to keep your members’ spirits up, you yet again vehemently gave a spur-of-the-moment speech about how you would get first place one day no matter who was on the show. And that was perhaps your second mistake.</p><p>Your first <em>definite</em> mistake was choosing the same waiting room as NCT 127. In your defense, your manager had told you to choose before you could even see who was in the two rooms, but nonetheless your decision was made. And now you’d have to spend several hours in the same room as the one object of your team’s spite. You were thankfully able to guide your girls to a corner as far away from them as possible and tried your best to keep the conversation off the topic of the nine men occupying the couches on the other side. And yet it still came down to Yeonha whining lightly that there’d be no way you guys would get your first win tonight and Eunjin replying with malice about how NCT 127 was ruining your comebacks and stealing wins from you and that SM might have even done this on purpose to keep your company down.</p><p>Immediately, you chastised your fiery maknae, but the damage had already been done. Now the rest of your girls seemed to be even more embittered and angry.</p><p>Through rehearsals and NCT 127 having a special backstage mission provided to them by the show’s PDs, you had successfully avoided them. Until you went to the bathroom for not even five minutes to come back to a full-on screaming match going on in the waiting room. You’d walked right in on Eunjin and NCT 127’s own maknae, Haechan, locked in a vicious verbal battle. The intensity and surprise of the situation had you frozen just past the doorway.</p><p>“You’re just another generic, entitled group from the Big Three who had everything handed to them and wouldn’t even give a single glance to someone from a smaller company if you weren’t forced to do shows with them!” She spat, which only seemed to make the boy’s face even redder as the older members from both groups seemed unsure of exactly what to do.</p><p>“You have no idea what I had to do to debut and get here!” Haechan shouted back, fists clenched at his sides.</p><p>“Oh you don’t have the right to talk about struggling; you’re from SM! You and your group and your big fancy company are out here stealing our wins that we worked so much <em>fucking </em>harder for!”</p><p>The curse word was what finally jolted you from your daze, and you ran over in between the two, “Yah! Yah! Yah! Stop it!”</p><p>Both of them faltered, and you were sure that they could see how serious and infuriated you were over their spat. Rounding on your maknae, you spoke sternly and harshly, “Han Eunjin! <em>What</em> do you think you’re doing?”</p><p>She still hadn’t responded after a few moments of intensely quiet glaring, and it was then that someone else walked into the room, as startled and concerned as you were. It was Lee Taeyong, who you knew to be the boy group’s leader. He rushed over, eyes wide as he took in the situation: you standing between his member and your own, both with red faces and the other members looking on with bated breath.</p><p>“What’s happening? I heard some yelling from down the hall.” He asked as he approached, and you were unsure if he was talking to Haechan or you, but you answered anyway.</p><p>“I came back from a short break, and they were yelling at each other. I just stopped them.” You said, clearing your throat uncomfortably as you turned to him. “I’m Y/L/N Y/N, by the way, Starry Eyed’s leader.”</p><p>“Yeah, uhm, I’m Lee Taeyong, NCT 127’s leader,” Taeyong seemed almost dazed as he turned to Haechan, speaking in a much lower voice as he addressed him. “What happened?”</p><p>“She started it!” The boy said accusatorily, setting off Eunjin again.</p><p>“No I didn’t!” She lunged forward, but you caught her, pushing her back into the arms of your other girls, and they thankfully actually held her back. “He was the one who came over to us!”</p><p>“To introduce myself! You were the one who gave me snark first!”</p><p>“You’re such a—”</p><p>“Yah!” Both you and Taeyong yelled out at the same time to get them to quiet down again.</p><p>Behind you was a similar scene, the much larger forms of who you knew to be Johnny and Jaehyun subduing Haechan as Taeyong ran a hand through his hair in distress. Turning back to your group, you faced Eunjin with the deadliest look you’d ever given any of your girls, including when they had accidentally dropped your phone off a bridge during your reality show. You could see her gulp as you unclenched your jaw to speak, “Get some water and sit down. Now.”</p><p>With some light ushering by your older members, Hanji and Minmin, she did so, retreating back into your corner. You were still upset with your other girls for letting her go off on Haechan, and seemingly not doing anything to stop it, “I’ll deal with you all later.”</p><p>They nodded, going back with the other three. As they sat down, you saw them all look at you before whispering fearfully amongst themselves. You couldn’t even think about what you’d say to them or how afraid of you they were. Because you now had to do damage control with NCT 127. Taeyong had quietly shooed Haechan and his other members away too, seemingly having the same idea as you.</p><p>“Let’s talk outside, hm?” He suggested, gesturing for you to go ahead of him out the door.</p><p>You did so, stopping still in-view of the waiting room as to not stray too far from your groups. Taeyong leaned against the wall, briefly closing his eyes before snapping them back open to offer you a sheepish and sleepy smile, “I’m sorry about Haechan.”</p><p>“I apologize for Eunjin.” You sighed, sounding just as tired as him, and added an explanation of some kind. “We’re uh, we’re from a very small company… and me and all of my girls are <em>immensely</em> proud of how far we’ve come from a place where we almost didn’t even debut. And even then, our debut album sales were what kept our company afloat.”</p><p>At this revelation, Taeyong’s eyebrows shot up. You knew that it wasn’t a very well-known fact, and he seemed impressed at this as you continued on, “Because of this, there’s always been a sort of… resentment among us for groups who came from big companies, like SM. Which I used to encourage because it would, you know, make us all persevere and work our hardest to overcome this. But, I’d like to apologize for letting it get this far and turn into something so much nastier and uglier than I had intended.”</p><p>He nodded, taking a few moments to compile his thoughts. Even though he was comfortably leaning against the wall, you were much too tense and nervous to do much else other than stand rigidly still and fidget with the hem of your shirt. Finally, he spoke again, “I accept your apology, because you were coming from a good place, and I know that a leader can’t always control what their members do. Sometimes I wish I could, especially when Haechan won’t shut his mouth, like now.”</p><p>You were able to chuckle at that, relaxing a little more around the man in front of you, “If I could put a muzzle on Eunjin, I would.”</p><p>Taeyong let out a light giggle, one that suddenly made your blood pressure drop. And then he made eye contact with you as he removed his hand from his mouth, displaying the most adorable smile you’d ever seen. <em>Fuck, </em>he’s cute.</p><p>“Is it against your company’s rules too?”</p><p>“Unfortunately.” You wrinkled your nose before breaking out into a coordinated smile with Taeyong.</p><p>“This definitely shouldn’t have been the first time we spoke.” He shook his head. “I’ve been meaning to tell you all that your comeback is awesome, but I haven’t.”</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>“I always got this weird feeling that your group hated us.”</p><p>Although you knew he was teasing you, you were still embarrassed about Eunjin’s behavior. “Well, <em>I</em> don’t hate you.”</p><p>“Thanks, Y/N.”</p><p>There was a beat of silence, and you looked around in awe, “It’s… quiet.”</p><p>“Yeah, you think they killed each other or something?” He suggested, pushing himself off the wall to take a couple slow steps down the hall.</p><p>“I guess we should find out, huh?”</p><p>Following him back to the waiting room, you both peered in. While the atmosphere wasn’t exactly friendly, it was just bordering on civil now. Everyone was silent, either on their phones or eating, the occasional spiteful glance being thrown across the room. But nobody moved to act on one.</p><p>You were tempted to duck back out into the hallway with Taeyong instead of sitting in the suffocating tension, but Eunjin had already spotted you. She looked too much like a kicked puppy for you to ignore, and you reluctantly went over to deal with her. Sitting on the couch in front of her, you waited for her to speak first.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Y/N.” She muttered, looking at the water bottle in her hands. Hanji muttered something to her, as if she was chastising her.</p><p>Eunjin cleared her throat, sat up straighter, and looked you in the eye as she repeated her apology, “I’m sorry Y/N, and I’ll apologize to NCT 127 as well.”</p><p>You sighed, reaching out to squeeze her hand to show that you weren’t angry, “I forgive you. But—look, I don’t care what he called you or said about you, you need to apologize to Haechan specifically, too.”</p><p>Her face turned vexed again, voice venomous as she said, “No, I won’t apologize to him. He said that our comeback was effortless, we had no stage presence, and our rap line was weak. You wrote the lyrics to our song, helped choreograph it, and are our main rapper, Y/N. I couldn’t let him talk about you like that.”</p><p>You bit your lip heavily, nodding solemnly. “You were defending me.”</p><p>“But she did start it.” Seungyeon spoke up, earning a glare from the youngest. “Haechan and Mark came over to introduce themselves and Eunjin made a comment under her breath. Haechan demanded she repeat it aloud, and she kept refusing. Then it escalated to what you walked in on.”</p><p>“Ah, I see.”</p><p>Now with all the facts, you stood up, expectantly holding a hand out towards Eunjin. She accepted it, and you kept a tight grip on her arm to half-guide and half-yank her over towards NCT’s side of the room. Taeyong saw you approaching, pulling Haechan up and over with him. You met just behind the couch that Johnny, Jaehyun, and WinWin were chilling on.</p><p>“Eunjin.” You prompted her sternly.</p><p>She let out a short sigh, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she studied Haechan for a moment. Then, she spoke, “I’m sorry for yelling at you, and cursing at you, and making rude and unnecessary accusations.”</p><p>Haechan rolled his eyes, earning a pinch on his exposed forearm from his leader. This inspired him to say, “I forgive you… and I apologize too, for yelling at you, and cursing at you, and saying untruthful and disrespectful things about Starry Eyed.”</p><p>“I forgive you.”</p><p>“There we go!” You cheered, clapping enthusiastically to try to clear the awkwardness from the air.</p><p>“Yeah!” Taeyong joined in on clapping with you.</p><p>Your maknaes shared a look of mutual embarrassment, annoyance, and disgust, but at least it wasn’t at each other. Instead, it was for you and Taeyong, as you two were still clapping and celebrating. They simultaneously turned away and sat back at their respective seats across the room from each other. You slowly stopped clapping, sharing a grin of relief with Taeyong.</p><p>“How long do you think they’ll keep being mad at each other?” He leaned in towards you to ask quietly, and you sighed, not so subtly glancing at your girls.</p><p>“Eh… I need to take Eunjin out for bulgogi every day for about three weeks then she’ll be fine.”</p><p>“Oof, I’ll pitch in some funds for that.”</p><p>“Or I could save my money and take away her gaming privileges at the dorms.”</p><p>“A much less expensive solution.”</p><p>It was then that a man walked in, who you assumed to be NCT’s manager, as he called for the members to head over for makeup touch-ups in the next room over before going on stage. Taeyong looked to you apologetically, “I’ve got to go, Y/N. If I don’t see you before you go on, good luck! You girls are going to kill it tonight, I can feel it.”</p><p>“Thanks, Taeyong.” You smiled bashfully at his confidence in your chances. “Good luck to you too! You guys are going to kill it too.”</p><p>“Nah, you all are going to do way better.”</p><p>“Oh, please.”</p><p>“Seriously! Your second verse has the killing part in it, which you nail every time, and your choreo—”</p><p>“Taeyong!” His manager called out for him again, and none of his other members were in sight, already in the makeup room.</p><p>“Alright, now I really need to go. Bye, Y/N!” Taeyong gave you another grin and a wave as he jogged over to his manager.</p><p>“Bye, Taeyong!” You waved to him right before he left the room, popping half his face back in to flash you a final smile that made you giggle at his antics.</p><p>Walking back over to your group, you sat down beside Minmin, still smiling from your interaction with Taeyong. All eyes were on you, and Seungyeon spoke up first, “You seem really happy, Y/N.”</p><p>“Of course I am, I just kept Eunjin and Haechan from punching each other out.” You scoffed, flicking your maknae’s head from where she was sat on the floor in front of you.</p><p>“Mhm.”</p><hr/><p>It was only the next day that you saw Taeyong. He had spotted you before you’d spotted him, as when you glanced up to the newcomers at the door of the waiting room, he was already grinning and waving at you. You gave him a small wave as well, unable to smile with the huge bite of food you had stuffed in your mouth two seconds earlier. Seungyeon and Soomin were talking to the camera you all kept for your behind-the-scenes series and turned it around to show the food you had bought for your members today. Including bulgogi.</p><p>“Y/N bought this for us today! Thank you!” Soomin cheered, shoving the camera uncomfortably close to your face.</p><p>You laughed, covering your mouth with your hand in an attempt to keep from spitting the food in your mouth out. But then Seungyeon had to yell, “Best leader Y/N!” with food in her own mouth, which made you snort again, a couple pieces of rice and half-chewed meat soaring from your mouth onto the table. At least it wasn’t onto the camera.</p><p>You fervently went to grab a napkin, chewing and swallowing as fast as you could as your entire group broke out in melodious laughter. As you wiped your mouth, you gestured to the camera for the editors to cut this part later. When you glanced around the room to see if anybody else had seen, your stomach dropped when you saw Taeyong stifling his giggles behind his phone. He had definitely seen. Great.</p><p>“Manager! Manager! Y/N got food on her shirt! Y/N got food on her shirt!” Yeonha yelled out in a teasing sing-song voice, and before your manager could come over to chastise you, you started from the couch.</p><p>“I’m going to the bathroom!” You announced, darting out of the waiting room.</p><p>In the bathroom, you inspected your shirt for any kind of stain. There was half a piece of rice on your shoulder, but after flicking it off, there were no marks left. Letting out a sigh of relief, you adjusted your hair and outfit once more before returning to the waiting room. Initially you didn’t see any kind of conflict or reason for worry. Until Hanji ran up to you, accosting you at the door.</p><p>“Eunjin cursed at Haechan again.” She informed you quietly, and you immediately felt your mood sour.</p><p>“Was the camera off?” You replied, to which she thankfully nodded in affirmance. “Was their camera off?”</p><p>“I don’t know.”</p><p>Groaning, you gave your maknae a glare before changing course towards the conglomerate of boys on the other set of couches. Taeyong looked up from his phone after Doyoung had nudged his side, confusion turning to a surprised and bright smile, “Hi, Y/N!”</p><p>You gave him a frank half-smile in return, briefly glancing at a rather guilty-looking Haechan before returning your gaze to their leader, “We need to talk again.”</p><p>He seemed to have noticed your poorly concealed look at his youngest, demeanor turning annoyed now as he stood up, gesturing for you to lead the way from the waiting room. In the hallway, you went further down this time, both of you looking even more tired than the day before.</p><p>“What did they do now? I didn’t even leave for a second.” Taeyong ran a hand through his hair, thoroughly disheveling it.</p><p>“I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, Hanji told me that Eunjin cursed at Haechan again.” You rubbed your forehead, equally as frustrated.</p><p>“They were over at the water table at the same time, but Johnny and Yuta and some of your members were over there too. But it didn’t look like they were fighting. In fact, I-I actually thought that they had made up, it seemed like a pretty normal conversation to me.”</p><p>“Maybe the others were able to stop it from being a full screaming match like last time.”</p><p>“I’ll get Haechan to apologize again.”</p><p>“And I’ll get Eunjin to apologize. And uhm, did you have a camera rolling while she cursed at him? If you did, it would be a huge favor if you deleted it, even before any editors got it.”</p><p>Taeyong shook his head, much to your relief.</p><p>“Nice, now I just have to… never leave the room ever again.”</p><p>The mood was lightened again as he teased you, “Bad things always happen when you leave, Y/N.”</p><p>“Guess I’ll have to hold my pee forever.” You sighed dramatically, making your companion hide his face as he laughed at your brashness. “But seriously, I’ll have a real talk with her tonight at the dorms.”</p><p>“I lectured Donghyuck at the dorms last night, but apparently it didn’t work.”</p><p>At Taeyong’s frown, you lightly pinched his arm to get his attention again, “Hey, you’re the one who told me that you can’t always control your members. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”</p><p>“If it was something smaller like he was stealing Mark’s favorite cereal—which he does—I wouldn’t care. But if I can’t keep him from fighting with someone from a different group, then I’m just… a bad leader.”</p><p>“Woah, where is this coming from?” You shook your head at his self-questioning. “Have you forgotten that they’re both hormonal kids as well? Petty fights are kind of a staple at this age, no matter what we do.”</p><p>“Right, right.”</p><p>Glancing back over to the waiting room, you knew that you’d have to go back in soon, “Well, damage control time now.”</p><p>“Yep.” Taeyong led the way back into the room, and you made a beeline for Eunjin.</p><p>“Do this again, and I’m never taking you out for bulgogi for the rest of the year. Not even on your birthday.” You warned, not letting her speak first this time.</p><p>She nodded, and you waved a hand for her to stand up and come with you. You met Taeyong and Donghyuck in the middle of the room again, crossing your arms as you looked to your maknae expectantly.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Haechan.”</p><p>“I’m sorry, Eunjin.”</p><p>While the apologies didn’t sound very genuine, you took it anyway, asking Eunjin to go back to your group. Haechan left as well, and Taeyong stuffed his hands in his pockets as you were stood there in silence for a couple moments.</p><p>“Well, that’s that.” He declared, and you nodded.</p><p>“Yeah, hopefully.” Glancing to your group, you saw all the girls’ eyes on you. “I need to go back to them. Good luck again, Taeyong.”</p><p>“You too, Y/N.”</p><p>Turning away from him, you knew that he was watching as you walked away to rejoin your group.</p><p>“Why did you come back over here?” Soomin asked almost as if she were scolding you.</p><p>“Because you were all staring at me, I figured you needed something.”</p><p>There was an immediate uproar from them, “No! No, we’re fine!”</p><p>Yeonha added, “Don’t you have more, uh, leader stuff to talk about with Taeyong?”</p><p>Your brows were furrowed as you looked at your girls in confusion, “Uh, no. Eunjin and Haechan apologized, and we talked earlier. Don’t worry, they’re not mad at us, and everything’s fine! I promise.”</p><hr/><p>That promise lasted a whole five days.</p><p>You didn’t even know that NCT 127 were going to be on the music show you were performing on tonight. Today was going to be your last performance, your goodbye stage for this comeback, and you were so focused on organizing a special surprise for your fans for this stage, not even thinking about who else would be on the show tonight.</p><p>“Y/N, look!” Goseung shoved her phone in your face as you walked down the halls carrying your outfit for tonight in your hands.</p><p>“What?” You retracted your head back to attempt to see what she was trying to show you. It looked like Twitter, but that was about all you could tell. “What is it? I can’t see.”</p><p>“Stellars are organizing a buying, streaming, and voting project to give us our first win tonight!”</p><p>A huge grin immediately spread across your face, your heart warmed by your fans’ collective efforts, “We should tweet out a group selca thanking them for everything once we’re in our stage clothes.”</p><p>There was suddenly a familiar voice yelling from down the hall, “Ah! Starry Eyed! Hello!”</p><p>You tried to look past Goseung’s phone and your stack of clothes at Taeyong and the rest of NCT 127, who were walking towards you, already in their stage clothes and with nametags on. “Hello, hello.”</p><p>“We’re going to rehearsal, but we’ll see you all later!” He said cheerfully as they kept walking by, and you gave smiles and greetings to all of them. Haechan and Eunjin even seemed friendly as they exchanged a hello as they passed each other.</p><p>It was a rush as soon as you got into your waiting room to get changed, get makeup and hair done, then strap on your small nametag/aprons so the cameramen knew who to focus on at what part. As you started to lead your girls back out and down the halls, you heard NCT 127 before you saw them. They passed by you coming back from the stage, and you could only give a small wave of acknowledgement to Taeyong as you had to fix Yeonha’s zippers on her dress as you walked by each other.</p><p>After your own rehearsal, you returned to your waiting room to find that the other groups you were sharing it with were a newly-debuted boy group and a girl group. No sign of NCT 127 in sight. With little grandeur, you collapsed onto a couch, trying to avoid messing up your hair as you did so. You didn’t need an angry hair stylist on your ass tonight.</p><p>“NCT aren’t here.” Seungyeon commented, eliciting a few groans.</p><p>“Yeah, they must be in another waiting room.” You shrugged, accepting a water from your manager, unscrewing the cap to chug half of it at once.</p><p>A couple hours passed as the other groups were called out for their own rehearsal, and your maknae line was busy with some backstage mission from the show. You didn’t know why it wasn’t for the whole group, but that meant that you were left with your own behind-the-scenes camera, Hanji, and Minmin.</p><p>“Hanji!” You pointed the camera at her as she scrolled mindlessly on her phone. “Hanji!”</p><p>“Yeah?” She didn’t even look up, eyes fixed on whatever social media she was browsing.</p><p>“Aegyo!”</p><p>At this, her eyes snapped up to glare at you, it being well-known that she hated doing aegyo, “No.”</p><p>Minmin joined in, “Hanji, aegyo, please!”</p><p>“Please!” You pleaded too. “Hanji, for our Stellars! Aegyo for Stellars!”</p><p>After an eye roll, she obliged, throwing out finger hearts from her mouth and eyes, earning delighted squeals from you and Minmin. You had just turned the camera back to Minmin when you heard your other members returning from their mission. Spinning in your chair, you greeted them brightly, giggling as Yeonha tried to engage you in a duel with the camera sticks.</p><p>“How’d your mission go?” You asked as they turned their camera off.</p><p>Eunjin completely ignored your question, throwing out one of her own nonchalantly, “Were you sitting here the whole time?”</p><p>“Yep, but I got Hanji to do aegyo!”</p><p>“So you didn’t, you know, get up and go talk to anyone?”</p><p>“Jooeun, from DIA came over, actually. We went to high school together.” You gestured over to where the other girls were preparing for their stage. “Why?”</p><p>The youngest seemed disappointed, and suddenly thrust Eunjin to the front, “Eunjin pushed Haechan!”</p><p>Your eyebrows shot up as you immediately leapt to your feet, cornering your maknae, “You did <em>what?</em>”</p><p>Before she could even think of a response, you went off, “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Han Eunjin? Are you <em>trying</em> to ruin our careers and any prospect of getting along with other idols? It is our last stage of this comeback tonight and you’re going to ruin it for me, and for the other girls too. Because you know what? I’m telling Manager Dahyun that we’re not going to perform tonight. We’re going to go to the dorms and not have our final goodbye stage and surprise for Stellars, and you can apologize to every member and fan yourself. I am tired of this shit.”</p><p>You had just pivoted on your heel to march out of the room and track down your manager when you saw a familiar figure leaning against the wall just outside the open door of your waiting room. Switching gears, you approached Taeyong not even with a faint glimmer of a smile on your lips. All you could do was lose your scowl as you wordlessly followed him down the halls, away from both waiting rooms.</p><p>“Don’t leave.” He finally said as you two turned a corner further and further away from your groups.</p><p>You were confused for a moment before realizing that he must have been standing in the doorway for much longer than you’d first thought, “You heard that.”</p><p>“You shouldn’t let that ruin your goodbye stage. Especially since it was fake.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Taeyong had a small smile on his face as he stopped in a quiet and unpopulated dead-end hallway, only a vending machine keeping you company. His hands were stuffed in his pockets as he enlightened you, “The fights were all fake, except for the first one. After that, all of our members apparently conspired to keep fighting to uhm, get us to you know… talk again.”</p><p>“I’m really going to kill those girls now.” You grumbled, but your mind was still replaying his words and your eyes kept flitting to and away from his face. “Why did they want us to talk so much?”</p><p>He rubbed at the back of his neck anxiously as his cheeks flushed a bright pink, he muttered so quietly you almost couldn’t discern what he was saying, “Because they think we should date.”</p><p>Your mouth formed an ‘o’ despite no sound coming out, and you felt your entire face warm up. While you did like him, and liked the idea of maybe being with him, the whole situation was still embarrassing. “I’m sorry that Eunjin and my girls did that.”</p><p>Taeyong looked at you curiously, “You are?”</p><p>“Yes, it was meddlesome and troublesome, and they should’ve left you and your group alone.”</p><p>“Well, our groups were co-conspirators.”</p><p>“I don’t doubt that it was my group’s idea first, though.”</p><p>“So what do you think?” He questioned, shifting his weight to his other leg.</p><p>Trying not to get your hopes up, you cautiously asked, “About what?”</p><p>“You know… us maybe, going on a date.”</p><p>You didn’t think your face could get hotter, but it did as you fully processed what he had just asked. “Uhm, I’d like that… a lot.”</p><p>His face lit up, the huge grin being contagious as you giggled nervously, “Really?”</p><p>“Yeah, you know, after we’re both done with these promotions and actually have free time.”</p><p>Taeyong looked at the time on his phone, “We’ve got an hour until the show starts. Why not now?”</p><p>“What kind of date can we have here?” You asked with an eyebrow raised, excited to see what he could pull out of his ass.</p><p>He offered his arm out to you, which you hesitantly linked your own with before letting him lead you back down the hallway, taking a turn even further away from the waiting rooms. “The stairs have a roof access that the janitors usually leave unlocked.”</p><p>As you walked up the stairs with Taeyong, you were glad to finally feel out of the limelight. No camera recording, fansites snapping pictures, or chance of being even featured in the background of another group’s behind-the-scenes camera. At the top of the final flight of stairs, there was a small metal door, and with some effort, Taeyong swung it open. The roof of the building wasn’t much to look at, but the view was incredible. You immediately ran towards the edge of it, propping yourself up with your hands to look out over the busy buildings of Seoul.</p><p>You heard Taeyong’s footsteps as he approached behind you, leaning his elbows along the concrete to observe the city. Sighing, you felt your shoulders finally relax, and closed your eyes for a moment to enjoy the slight breeze.</p><p>“How’d you find out about this?”</p><p>“A behind-the-scenes mission gone wrong. The only other person who knows is Taeil. And now you.” Taeyong explained, moving his gaze over to you.</p><p>Despite the cool breeze, your skin was warm again at the simple adoration on his features, “Thank you.”</p><p>“C’mere.” He stood up straight, gesturing for you to walk to the other side of the roof with him. Partway there, he crouched down, and you mimicked him, confused as to why he was keeping his head below the concrete surrounding the roof.</p><p>When he got to the other side, he said, “Okay, now look over, but don’t stand up.”</p><p>Peering over the concrete on your knees, you were able to see the mass of fans waiting outside the entrance of the building. They were all talking excitedly amongst themselves, many wearing shirts and carrying banners for the various groups performing. You saw quite a few with Starry Eyed’s lightstick, a sight that made your heart soar.</p><p>“Oh, I want to wave to them so bad.” You sighed, ducking your head back down.</p><p>“You’ll see them when you perform, and you know, when you get your first win tonight.” Taeyong replied genuinely from where he was sitting back on his own feet beside you.</p><p>An almost bittersweet smile came to your face. First wins usually only happened for groups within the first few stages of their comeback, not this late. But even without a first win, you knew that you’d leave a great goodbye stage for your Stellars.</p><p>“Thanks, Taeyong.” You slowly started moving back towards the other side, grateful when you could stand up again, the concrete leaving red patches on your knees.</p><p>As the two of you continued watching Seoul, you talked mostly about your own respective comebacks, sharing stories of your members and the like. You felt one too many buzzes on your phone and realized that someone was calling you, and you had to answer it.</p><p>“Hello?” You held it up to your ear, knowing exactly who it was and why they were calling you.</p><p>“Y/N, where are you?” Your manager asked, sounding out of breath as if she had been running around trying to find you.</p><p>“Uh, coming back now.”</p><p>“Fine.”</p><p>With that she hung up, and you turned to Taeyong sheepishly, “Unfortunately we have to go back now.”</p><p>“Yeah, my members have been texting me saying that our manager is looking for me too.” He sighed, both of you starting back towards the stairwell.</p><p>“Before we go down and get lost in the craziness again, could I have your number? So we can do a real date.”</p><p>“This wasn’t good enough for you?” Taeyong said in mock offense, nonetheless pulling his phone out from his pocket as you opened your contacts and created a new one for him.</p><p>“Nah,” you wrinkled your nose teasingly, exchanging devices with him before bumping his shoulder affectionately. “I’m kidding, it was nice. Just talking and getting to know each other, that’s what a first date should be.”</p><p>“I had a good time too.”</p><p>After he had handed your phone back, he went to reach for the handle of the door to the stairwell when you grabbed his arm. “Hm?” He turned around to look at you, and that’s when in a short burst of confidence, you pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek.</p><p>“Good luck tonight.” You mumbled, the both of you blushing messes again.</p><p>“You too.” Taeyong muttered as he reached out to hold your hand in his free one, and the other yanked the door open again.</p><p>You knew that once you started going down towards the more populated levels, you’d have to let go of his hand, but for these next few flights of stairs you could enjoy the freshly awkward but still pleasant feeling of his fingers laced with yours. At the door leading to the ever-busy hallways where your respective waiting rooms were, you begrudgingly let go of his hand, and he cracked open the door to see if anyone was in the hallway. A moment later, he opened it all the way, and you both darted out of the stairwell.</p><p>Taking the winding set of turns back to the waiting rooms on the other side of the building, you were only a little out of breath when you made it back to the hallways you had left earlier. You exchanged a final beaming smile with Taeyong before you each disappeared into your own respective room, where your members were all waiting on the couches with your manager.</p><p>“There you are!” She said in exasperation, urging everyone to stand up and started ushering you all out of the room. “Let’s go! Hair and makeup touch-ups before we go backstage.”</p><hr/><p>It was the end of the show, where all the groups were gathered on stage to hear who had won for the night. Your surprise for your fans during your performance had gone off without a hitch, and now you were squeezing Eunjin and Hanji’s hands with bated breath as the two idol MCs went to read out the name of the group that had won tonight. Your heart genuinely <em>stopped</em> when you heard your group’s name called out for first place.</p><p>Then suddenly your girls were pushing you forward, flowers and an award and a mic were being thrust in your hands, and your song was being played over the speakers again. And you were crying. You’d finally had your first win. The other groups on stage gave you congratulations as they passed by, and you had to give the flowers to Yeonha to hold because it was all too much for you. Confetti was falling over you, and when your first rap verse came on, you couldn’t even bring yourself to rap it, crouching down with your arm and knees supporting your head as you cried in utterly overwhelming disbelief.</p><p>The last group to leave the stage was NCT 127, with one of their members falling far behind them. Through your tears that you were sure were ruining your makeup, you saw Taeyong slowing down to a stop beside you. You mustered up enough strength to stand up and offer your mic out to him, and he covered your second rap part as you still couldn’t do much besides cry and giggle. After he had finished your part, you took the mic back, mouthing a “thank you,” and he gave you a blinding smile and soft “congratulations” before following his members off-stage.</p>
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